


On the road to your own perdition

by Madalena



Series: We Built a Dynasty Like Nothing Ever Made [11]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: High Warlock Council - Freeform, M/M, Spiral Labyrinth, Warlock Rituals, Warlock magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-05-23 18:51:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14939879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madalena/pseuds/Madalena
Summary: Determined to keep the Book of Raziel away from the Seelie Queen, and prepared to have a long-overdue reckoning with his demon blood, Alec descends into the Spiral Labyrinth to seek help from the warlocks that dwell there.But the Spiral Labyrinth isn’t immune to threats from the world below, and as Magnus faces a reckoning of his own within its walls, he remembers his father’s words from years before and realizes the threat is far greater than any they have faced before.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "Damned and Divine" by Tarja Turunen.

“They did _what_?” Alec shouted, the tone of his voice usually one reserved for Clave representatives that crossed their path. “How could they? How could they do that to you? I’ve told you, and I’ll have to tell them, it wasn’t your fault. It was mine.”

“They were only responding to the concerns of the warlock community of Los Angeles.” Magnus said, rubbing Alec’s shoulder, trying to get him to relax. “They’re not wrong. I was derelict in my duty. It is my responsibility to make sure that the warlocks in my domain have access to the proper training to manage their powers. If someone is new or trying to fly under the radar and I’m not aware of them, there would be some leniency in that regard, but we’ve been together for over five years, living together for four, and married for one. The fact that you’re a Shadowhunter and the leader of the _Diaitites_ doesn’t change the fact that you’re also a warlock in my domain. I know the power you have, and I know the power that I have. I should have had contingencies in place.”

“So - what now? Because I’m going to guess that an official censure issued by the High Warlock Council comes with consequences. Are they going to relieve you of your position?”

“That is one of the options, but it is one I’ve already turned down. We have many friends among warlocks, especially on the High Council and that’s why they were reluctant to even look at this, but like it or not they do have to adjudicate among warlocks fairly, and there are also plenty who hate me, and us. Which means that anyone who would be looking to take my position would not be a friend, but someone looking to challenge me directly. Which would spell bad news for both of us.”

“So then what? What else can they do?”

“They can do a great deal, but typical procedure in this type of scenario, if stepping down is not an option…” Magnus trailed off, stepping back from Alec and going out onto the balcony. Alec waited for a moment to see if he would come back, but instead Magnus looked out at the sunset painting the city in reds and oranges, his hands clenching the edge of the parapet, knuckles turning white with the effort.

Alec joined him on the balcony, silently resting a hand over one of Magnus’ until he finally relaxed it, gripping onto Alec’s hand instead. Alec knew better than to push, knowing that Magnus would talk in his own time.

“Do you remember the worst day of my life?” Magnus asked, voice wavering on the edge between clinical and overemotional.

“When you found your mother dead and killed your stepfather?”

“Not that day. That day five years ago.”

Alec dropped his gaze. “You mean when - when I let you get tortured by the Clave, when you were in Valentine’s body. Your worst memory?”

“I said worst day. Not worst memory. I have many awful memories of what has happened to me and what I’ve done to others, but the worst day is something else. The day where I thought I was going to lose you.”

“When Valentine stabbed me? But that healed. Super quickly.”

“Not that day, Alexander. Yes, I feared losing you then, but even if you had died, you would have died loving me. And that would have been a balm, of sorts. Incomparable to when I thought I was going to lose you and your love and even your respect.”

Alec took a long deep breath. “You mean the trial. The Trial of Hemarton.”

Magnus nodded. “Warlocks - well, it isn’t quite like that, it is just for one individual, and what precisely it entails is a strongly guarded secret from all but the High Council themselves, but there is a redemption ritual. It is called the Kadishtu Ch’Shogg. I survive it, and it is business as usual.”

“And what are the statistics on surviving this ritual?” Alec asked sharply.

“I don’t know. That’s also a closely guarded secret. Like the Trial of Hemarton, it isn’t done often. Most would rather step aside from their position than go through the ritual.”

“But it’s my fault.” Alec whispered. “I can’t ask you to do this when it was my fault you’re in this mess.”

“I don’t recall you asking my permission when you signed up for the Trial of Hemarton to save me. Or is it only Shadowhunters who get free will these days?” Magnus knew it was a low blow, but he needed to make Alec understand.

Alec sighed and collapsed into a nearby chair. “I guess I deserved that.”

“I’m sorry.” Magnus said, kneeling down beside him and running his hand over Alec’s knee. “But it’s true. Before that trial, you held yourself responsible for the whole situation with the Seelie Queen because you hadn’t told me the truth about the Soul Sword. Now, I hold myself responsible for what happened in Los Angeles, because I hadn’t given you the proper tools to understand the warlock side of your magic.”

“When are they going to do it?”

“Well, the Spiral Labyrinth is already preparing for our arrival tomorrow evening, so like as not it can happen then, while you’re doing that ritual we spoke to Tessa about.”

“But I want to be there for you.”

Magnus shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid you can’t. Only three people are allowed in this ritual space. The penitent, the confessor and the Speaker of the High Council. I can’t participate in your ritual either, so it only makes sense that they happen concurrently. Then afterward we can decompress together.”

“If we both survive.” Alec said grimly.

“Hey.” Magnus rested his head on Alec’s shoulder. “When have we not survived the trials put before us? We’ve got a good record going, we’re not about to break it now. We’ve still got work to do. While I have the utmost faith that Helen and Lydia will have a handle on the _Diaitites_ while we’re away, there are still some plans that we have yet to bring to fruition.”

“Yeah, about that…” Alec swept a hand through his hair. “Magnus, what do you know about the origins of the Seelies?”

Magnus frowned. “About the same as everyone. That they’re believed to be half-angel, half-demon. That’s why they can be cruel and capricious but are still blessed with the world outside of the fires of Hell. But they keep the real truth of their origins hidden from outsiders. Why?”

“Warlocks are half-demon. But they don’t have the same cruel natures as the Seelies. Why is that?”

“Our human souls, I would imagine. And mostly human upbringings. Angels are forces for good, but they don’t have human souls, instead they have strict rules and codes governing their behaviour, and not what we would interpret as free will.”

“Thus the Seelies have strict rules, especially as it governs contact with outsiders, but not the same moral codes as the angels. Is that right?”

“I… suppose that follows. If the stories of their origins are true. What’s brought all this on? We already agreed we’d take the Book of Raziel to the Spiral Labyrinth so the Seelie Queen can’t get to it.”

“That’s exactly it. I think I know _why_ she wants it.”

* * *

The next evening, Alec and Magnus stood before a spinning Portal, saying their goodbyes to Alec’s family.

“Be safe.” Isabelle said tearfully. “Come back soon, big brother. I’ll have my hands full keeping Jace in line.”

“Hey.” Jace said. “I resent that. I’m not going to burn the Institute down. But you better come back soon regardless. I’m going to pretend for now that you’re not breaking our parabatai oath by going where I can’t follow, but I can only keep that up for so long.”

“I’ll come back. We both will.” Alec said, hugging Jace and Isabelle together, then turning to his mother.

“Max wanted you to have this.” Maryse said, handing Alec a small cloth bag. “He’s busy in Los Angeles, as you know. But he said it was important.”

Alec nodded, taking the bag and slipping into the side pocket of the duffel he was bringing with him. “You’ll make sure everything is running smoothly?”

Maryse nodded. “When I’m in town. Helen has already sent over a list of unaligned wolf packs she wants me and Luke to talk to, hopefully to sign on to full Charter protections, even in Clave-aligned cities. We may be traveling quite a bit.”

“Be safe out there.”

“Always.” Maryse embraced Alec, and after a moment, both stepped back.

Alec picked up his duffel bag, and took Magnus’ hand. “We’ll get messages to you as soon as we’re able. If you’re anxious, talk to Catarina or Dot and they can contact the Spiral Labyrinth for you.”

“Ready?” Magnus said.

“As I’ll ever be.”

They stepped into the spinning Portal, and -

\- landed in the entrance hall of the Spiral Labyrinth, the space gleaming with protective wards of every colour, where three warlocks awaited them.

Tessa cast a curious look over both of them, her eyes cataloging their every move. Alec suddenly felt uneasy - while he hadn’t spent a lot of time with Tessa, she usually had a kinder look in her eye, and her presence would calm the wild magic churning within his veins. Alec didn’t know if it was because she had to be all business, or if it was because they were in the Spiral Labyrinth, but he didn’t feel that calm from her today.

On the other hand, Adalina smiled sympathetically at both of them. “Welcome to the Spiral Labyrinth, Alexander Gideon Lightwood-Bane, and Magnus Bane-Lightwood. I’m sorry, but this is where you’ll have to say your goodbyes until your rituals are over.”

Bian Minh just nodded at them, standing at Adalina’s right hand. Alec tried to remember what Magnus had said about the Trial of Kadishtu Ch’Shogg and its participants - the penitent, the confessor and the Speaker of the High Council - and deduced that this meant that Bian Minh had been chosen to be Magnus’ confessor, whatever that would entail. Alec didn’t know the High Warlock of Hanoi well, but he knew she had always stood by them when it counted, including fighting in the war against Valentine. He hoped that she was still sympathetic to their cause.

“May we at least have a bit of privacy?” Magnus asked.

Adalina nodded, and she, Bian Minh and Tessa stepped back into the shadows of the next room, and Magnus took both of Alec’s hands.

“Alexander.” Magnus said, but then felt lost as to how to continue. “I - it’s been so long since we’ve been separated by something like this. And never like _this_. Not when - not when I’m somewhere I can’t see you or even know what’s happening.”

“I know.” Alec whispered, resting his forehead against Magnus’. “But you can’t let yourself be distracted. If we get distracted worrying about each other, then we’ll have a harder time. You know that. I know that.”

“Doesn’t make it easier.”

“I know.” Alec repeated. “But remember, we can never be completely separated from each other.” Alec pressed his Wedded Union rune to Magnus’, magic sparking in their veins as they touched, Magnus’ blue and Alec’s gold swirling out to surround them. “And remember our oath. _‘So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee.’_ We’ll be all right, Magnus. We’ll make it through this.”

Magnus nodded, pulling Alec close for a deep kiss, magic still swirling around them, a growing inferno that surrounded them and exploded along the edges of the wards encompassing the room. As the shards of the wild magic scattered across the floor, so too the spell between them was broken, and they stepped back from each other reluctantly.

“I love you, Alexander.” Magnus said, staring into Alec’s eyes even as Adalina and Bian Minh reappeared to escort him away.

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to improvise demon languages to come up with the name of that ritual. Anyone want to hazard a guess what I used? :D
> 
> And if you're relatively new to this series and aren't certain what the oath Alec refers to is, please read the last chapter of [We go deeper than the ink beneath the skin of our tattoos](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12677280) and the story immediately after it [I'll love you past the breaking point](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13131420) to understand where it comes in. And yes, they would have repeated it at their wedding ;)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec begins his warlock rite of passage under Tessa's watchful eye.

Alec stood in a circle in the middle of a cavernous room, his feet and chest bare, suppressing a shiver as the whole setup reminded him all too eerily of the Trial of Hemarton. A number of warlocks bustled around the room, making final preparations for the space, adding extra protective wards to the walls, bringing a series of stoppered vials to a table in front of Tessa, who stood just a few feet outside of the circle Alec found himself in.

Her stare unnerved him more than anything else, for her eyes had not moved from him for a moment, even as she occasionally whispered to another warlock.

“Tessa, are you all right?” Alec asked.

Finally, she blinked, dropping her gaze and nodding. “Yes. I’m fine. Sorry, Alec. I just… I know Magnus holds himself responsible for everything that’s happening today, but I should have been there for you as well. This is as much my fault as it is his. At least today I can help rectify my oversight.” She nodded at the other warlocks, and they left the room, leaving the two of them alone. “What has Magnus told you about this ritual?”

“He mentioned that there were three phases, to do with past, present and future. But he didn’t want to talk about it too much, to be honest. I have the feeling that something awful happened during his ritual, and that’s why.”

Tessa nodded sympathetically. “You’re right. The warlocks who were performing Magnus’ rite when he was a child didn’t realize how powerful Magnus was, and thus were completely unprepared to deal with his father. Before starting the ritual, one first needs to summon their demon parent. A prick of blood from the warlock, that’s all it takes, you don’t need to know who the demon is, but when dealing with Greater Demons, more care needs to be taken to secure the summoning circle. The warlocks didn’t do that, and thus Asmodeus broke free, and killed them, taking Magnus away.”

Alec gasped, pieces of stories he’d heard from Magnus suddenly all fitting together. Magnus had mentioned how his father had raised him for several years, before being banished by the Silent Brothers, who then took Magnus in, but he had always been vague about how Asmodeus had found him in the first place. Now it all made sense.

“Anyway, you’re lucky.” Tessa continued. “You won’t need to face your - our - demon parent. Or, well, demon blood provider, anyway, since you’re not fully warlock. I took care of it earlier, summoning up my father and getting the requisite blood that we’ll need for the ritual.” She tapped one of the vials in front of her. “But you are correct, you will be looking at the past, present and future.”

“How does this… future… work, exactly? Magnus told me once a long time ago that even warlocks can’t see the future.”

“You can’t, not as people usually think of ‘looking into the future’. But within the scope of this ritual, we can see… possibilities, I suppose? When you’re called to do this ritual, it is typically because you stand on the edge of a precipice, having seen what can happen when you let your powers go wild, and then needing to choose the path you take from there. The last phase of the ritual will let you take a glimpse into the many possible futures that could take place depending on the choices that you make from here on out. It is meant to guide you to making the wise decision for your life, and pull back from the hunger you felt standing on that edge.”

“Hunger?”

“Surely you felt it, when you used Magnus’ magic to devastate Los Angeles.” Tessa said, circling him, outside the boundaries of the circle. “That urge to lay waste to even more of the world, to punish it for daring to offend you as it did.”

“That book hurt Magnus.” Alec whispered. “I - in that moment, I hated it, and I wanted to tear the world apart. I’d never felt anything like that before. I’ve felt rage, sure, but this was different. Other times when I’d felt rage, I didn’t have that same raw power at my fingertips. I _couldn’t_ do anything. And then to realize that Magnus lives with that power in his veins each day, how tightly he needs to keep his power under his control - I’d seen glimpses of it, but I never truly appreciated the effort it took. And never imagined that I’d also have to learn that control. But now I know I do. For everyone’s safety.”

“So you understand what’s at stake.” Tessa said. “Good. Now, I must warn you, this will not be pleasant. But once we’ve started, we cannot stop, no matter how much you beg for it, no matter how much you might want it to just all be over. It won’t kill you, I promise you that, but what you feel and experience will still feel completely real.”

“I understand.”

“I will start the ritual and be your guide, but the movement of the phases, and how you get out of it and end it, that is all up to you. I won’t have any control. Take care not to lose us in it. Yes, this is typically a ritual endured by warlock children, but as an adult with more life experiences, including quite a few horrifying ones in the mix, it will be much more challenging for you.”

“Will it - I mean, could I - could I hurt you in the ritual?”

“It will all be in our minds. Like I said, nothing is real, even if it feels that way, even if it looks that way. But so long as you’re trapped within the ritual, so I will be too.” Tessa smiled. “And I have brunch plans tomorrow, so I’d really rather not be trapped.”

Alec nodded. “Okay. How do we start?”

Tessa picked up the tray of the vials in front of her and stepped into the circle. “First I paint some marks on both of us, so that our consciousnesses will be joined during the ritual, so that I can guide you, and see what you see. Then I’ll need you to sprinkle the salt around the edges of the circle to contain the ritual as much as possible - and for what can’t be contained, that’s what the wards are for. Once you’ve done that, you drink the demon blood, and we begin.”

Alec stood still as Tessa finger-painted a dizzying array of symbols all over his face, chest, arms and back, emptying vial after vial, each one disappearing from her hand as she finished with it. On herself, she only painted two - one in the centre of her forehead, resembling a third eye, and the other, just below her collarbone, was unfamiliar to Alec, but as she finished painting it on herself, he felt the corresponding symbol on his chest throb, knowing that they were now connected in some way.

Tessa snapped her fingers, cleaning all of the paint from her hands. She picked up the second to last vial, handing it to Alec. The salt shimmered in the low light, and Alec did as he’d been told, sprinkling it around the edges of the circle that they both stood in.

Alec handed Tessa the empty vial, and it vanished with a snap of her fingers. She handed him the final vial, the demon blood looking particularly sludge-like, though it glistened here and there with a bizarre gleam that Alec did not understand. No demon blood he’d ever seen looked like this.

“Bottoms up.” Tessa said. “It tastes horrid, believe me, I know. But it’s the only way.”

Alec unstoppered the vial and scowled at the stench that wafted up into his nostrils. “What kind of demon did you say your dad is?”

“A Greater Eidolon demon. That’s where my special ability to Change without a glamour comes from.”

“Will we be expecting any Changes to take place during this ritual?”

“It’s possible.”

“I guess no point in delaying the inevitable.” Alec grimaced, but downed the blood in one gulp, pressing his lips shut to force himself to swallow the substance, even as it burned his mouth and throat. “Gross.” He croaked, once the blood was finally down.

“Let’s begin.”

It already sounded as if Tessa’s voice was far away. Alec didn’t know what sort of reaction drinking demon blood was supposed to inspire in someone who already possessed it, but he rapidly felt the world around him fading away, Tessa’s chanting in Chthonian a mere whisper on the edge of his consciousness, the press of her hand against the sigil on his chest just a fleeting brush of fingers, as his senses were overwhelmed by two colours that had come to define his existence the past five years.

The gold of the Heavenly Host and the obsidian of the Void itself.

Tessa vanished from his sight, and Alec was consumed by the gold, which shackled itself around Alec’s wrists, holding him immobile, pulling him to his knees, as the gold chain disappeared into the void beneath him. He looked around wildly, but all that he could see in the blackness around him were the gold chains pinning him down.

“Hello?” Alec’s voice echoed in the silent cavern surrounding him, but as he strained to hear other sounds, slowly he began to hear voices whispering in the dark and see fleeting shadows darting around him, the only movement discernible, some of them appearing to have golden edges, but they vanished as quickly as they appeared.

The whispers grew louder, and soon Alec could hear what they were saying.

_“I suffered for them.”_

_“I died for them.”_

_“I lost my mother.”_

_“It only takes, it never gives.”_

_“Do I feel chosen now? Chosen for death, maybe. Nothing else.”_

_“I lost my brother.”_

_“I feel no mercy now. Never did.”_

_“Are we chosen? Or are we cursed?”_

_“I lost my daughter.”_

_“I never had a choice.”_

_“I suffered, and I raised them to suffer as I did. We all suffer and bleed and die.”_

Alec recognized some of the voices, though he couldn’t put names to them. But they were voices from his past - his _Shadowhunter_ past, his life growing up in the Clave, in the New York Institute when it was still controlled by the Clave, before he broke it free and wrote his own rules. He frowned in confusion, this was his past, certainly, but wasn’t this meant to look at his demon blood, his demon lineage? How he’d come to acquire his demon blood?

Alec squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to guide the ritual, guide it back to his demon blood, perhaps the fact that he’d spent more of his life with only angel blood it was confusing the whole thing. He hadn’t thought to ask Tessa about it, assuming she’d have handled that part.

The voices rose in a cacophony around him, to such a pitch where he couldn’t make out any individual voices in the din, until they reached a breaking point and it was silent around him again.

Alec opened his eyes cautiously, wondering if this was the end of the first phase, but he was still chained by gold, he still couldn’t see anything but the gold and the darkness surrounding him.

Then the burning started.

He felt it first in his runes, the burn gliding its way across each rune in turn, starting with his parabatai rune and ending with his Wedded Union rune. Once it felt like the very angel blood in his veins was on fire, the imagined flames spread, slipping down each obsidian scar on Alec’s back, and suddenly he imagined he was back before the Seelie Queen, whips slicing his skin open, as the flame spread to the obsidian finger marks on his shoulder, and a flash of Asmodeus’ cruel face passed before him as the throbbing in his shoulder intensified.

Alec screamed, but there was no one to hear him as he tried to pull free from the golden chains that still held him fast to the ground. Soon a new cacophony of voices started to whisper around him.

_“Now you know what it’s like.”_

_“Your kind burned ours for centuries.”_

_“You killed us and took our homes.”_

_“Are you really so naïve as to believe there can be peace between us?”_

_“Too many broken promises.”_

_“You’re not like us. You’re one of them.”_

_“And they will always consider themselves better. Don’t delude yourself.”_

_“It’s right there in your blood.”_

_“You’ll never be one of us while you bleed gold.”_

Alec knew they were Downworlder voices. Whether the voices of those who lived, or those who had died in centuries past under the Clave’s cruel eye, he didn’t know. But he knew the _Diaitites_ was making a difference. He knew it. The Downworlder factions themselves had written the Downworld Charter, that the _Diaitites_ had then signed. They respected the internal laws of each Downworld faction. Any _Diaitites_ -affiliated Shadowhunter accused of crimes against the Downworld was fully investigated, Downworlders of each faction part of the investigative team alongside Shadowhunters. And beyond the official letter of their laws, Alec had Magnus - who never shied away from telling him if something wasn’t right.

It was making a difference, wasn’t it?

_He_ was making a difference, wasn’t he?

The burning started again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh… now the question on everyone’s mind… is this supposed to happen?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus begins the Trial of Kadishtu Ch’Shogg.
> 
> **Warning:** Graphic torture in this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, sorry it has taken some time to get this chapter up! But I'm back now, and hoping to get back to my regular posting schedule for this story. **Warning again - graphic torture!**

Adalina and Bian Minh escorted Magnus through what felt like miles of the Spiral Labyrinth - past the ritual rooms where he knew Alec would find himself with Tessa, past the libraries, past the living quarters, deep down into the bowels of the Labyrinth itself.

Even past the cells. Deeper, deeper, into the Labyrinth.

“I wish it didn’t have to be this way, Magnus.” Bian Minh whispered to him as they walked. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. This was my choice and my failure that’s brought us here. I need to answer for it.”

Adalina stopped before a simple door, pressing her palm to it. A few whispered words and it slipped aside, admitting the three of them into its space.

A warlock apprentice was waiting there, hand folded, head bowed.

“Is everything assembled as requested?” Adalina asked.

“Yes, Speaker Vele. It is all here. Though the Labyrinth’s stores of some of the… rarer… ingredients have now been depleted.”

“Please inform Miss Gray once her ritual with the Shadowhunter is over. You may go now.”

“Yes, Speaker Vele.” The apprentice nodded once and disappeared from the room.

Magnus cast an appraising glance over the room, taking in his surroundings. The damp stone walls reminded him of the Paris Catacombs, or some of the more unsavoury abandoned Underground stations in London. The ceiling far far above them appeared to be a clear night sky, but Magnus knew it had to be an illusion. The Spiral Labyrinth existed in a realm apart from the skies and stars. There was no peace of the night sky to be truly found here.

In the middle of the room, a pair of manacles dangled in the air, not held or supported by anything besides the strength of a warlock’s spell. If they truly intended to hold him with them, it would have to be a strong warlock indeed. There weren’t many warlocks more powerful than Magnus himself.

Off to the side, a table with assorted items on it, some gleaming in the artificial starlight, others that looked to absorb any light that fell on them.

The light and the dark. That’s how it was going to be, then.

A shiver of apprehension went through Magnus, but he knew it was too late to turn back now. He knew what it would cost him, and Alec, if he were to step aside as High Warlock. Despite an impeccable record, the _Diaitites_ was still not trusted by most warlocks, despite advocates such as Adalina, Gurak and most of the High Council. Magnus didn’t know if he had powerful detractors who had been spreading lies among the lesser warlocks, or if it was still just a general mistrust after centuries of Clave rule, but whichever it was - he could not hand over Alec’s headquarter city to an untrusted warlock. It would spell disaster for both of them.

“Warlock Bane.” Adalina said, her voice in full Speaker of the High Council tone. “Please remove your shirts, shoes and socks and stand in the ritual circle.”

Magnus looked for the ritual circle, and found it carved into the floor right below the manacles. He stepped into the corner of the room, removing his jacket, unbuttoning his shirt. He folded his clothes neatly on a small table, removing his shoes and socks as well. He stepped into the ritual circle, turning to face Adalina and Bian Minh, who stood by side just outside of the circle.

“Warlock Bane, you stand accused of negligence in the case of Alexander Gideon Lightwood, a Shadowhunter-warlock hybrid residing in your claimed territory of New York City. You may plead no case for ignorance, as you have been in a conjugal relationship with Lightwood for years, your warlock souls are bound together, and you have been married since April of last year. As such, the High Warlock Council has issued an official censure, which provided two options, given the severity of the case: Step aside as High Warlock of Brooklyn, or undergo the Trial of Kadishtu Ch’Shogg. You chose the latter. Is this still your wish?”

“Yes, Speaker Vele.” Magnus whispered, voice carrying in the cavernous room.

“Then as Speaker of the High Council, I stand as witness to this trial, and standing as confessor will be Ngoi Bian Minh, High Warlock of Hanoi. You will find no mercy here, but, if you’re strong enough, you may find redemption.” Adalina nodded to Bian Minh. “You may begin.”

Bian Minh began chanting something in a low voice, Magnus couldn’t make out what she was saying, or even what language she was saying it in. A flick of her wrist, and Magnus’ hands were drawn towards the ceiling, the manacles fastening themselves around his wrists. The press of the cool metal to his skin was like sharp ice, and Magnus knew that these were no ordinary manacles, and a step beyond even the magic-restraining manacles that Magnus would have expected.

No. These manacles were laced with pure adamas - the angelic substance that powered most Shadowhunter weapons, making them lethal to demons and painful to demon-blooded creatures. Even Alec, with as little demon blood as he had, now bore scars from Shadowhunter weapons, from his encounter with Valentine on the shores of Lake Lyn, but also nicks and cuts from mere training exercises, that, if he’d still been pure Shadowhunter, would have healed away with little consequence.

Magnus bit his lip and concentrated on Alec, but the thought of him sent even more of an icy pain sweeping through the runes that bound them. He tried to focus on Adalina’s face, but the magic of the ritual circle made her face blurry. Bian Minh was no longer standing beside her, and he couldn’t see where she had gone.

That thought chilled him more than he had anticipated.

“Before we begin, please recite the Warlock Creed.” Magnus heard Bian Minh’s voice, but he couldn’t see her, though her voice seemed to echo throughout the space. “You do still remember our sacred vows, don’t you?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then say it.”

“I was born from darkness, but I will not be the darkness. I did not ask for what I was, but I will make the Void wish it had never made me. I will not dishonour the humanity granted to me, for it sets me apart from Agrat’s brood and Eisheth’s spawn. I will bend the blood of Lilith to not cause harm, but to do good. I will command respect but not inspire fear. I will wield the darkness in the name of good, and not let it wield me in the name of evil. I will be the light, though the light forsakes me, not the dark, which will consume me.”

“Very good. Now as the creed itself says - there is the light and there is the dark. We will use both to compel the truth from you. The truth of the situation, the truth of your beliefs, the truth of your motivations. If you stay the course, you will be cleansed. If you don’t, well… the Void will claim you sooner than you perhaps anticipated.”

“I understand.”

“Good. Time to make your confession, Warlock Bane.” Bian Minh’s voice was suddenly right behind him. He tried to twist himself to find her, but she clamped one icy hand down on his hip to prevent him from moving. “Stay where you are. I’ll ask the questions. You will answer them. This will know if you’re lying.”

Magnus felt a sharp point press against the back of his neck, the freezing touch of it telling him that it was yet another angelic weapon, but a weapon with more potency than the seraph blades and daggers he saw on a regular basis. Magnus hadn’t known that the High Council had an agreement with the Iron Sisters - or if not an agreement, that they’d robbed them at some point in the past. He couldn’t be sure which it was, but from the icy terror that dripped down his spine, he knew it could only be one weapon - a weapon that he himself had seen only once, when the Iron Sisters had formally cut their ties with the Clave. They’d presented Alec, as the leader of the Diaitites, with an _aegis*_ \- a rare heavenly weapon, a dagger steeped in angel blood, only to be used in extreme circumstances. Magnus had seen how it physically pained Alec to hold it, and he’d passed it off to Isabelle to lock up in the restricted weapons collection as quickly as courtesy allowed. If such a weapon hurt Alec to merely hold, Magnus knew whatever damage it would to do him could be severe.

That thought chilled him, too.

“First question.” Bian Minh whispered in his ear. “Did Lightwood use his own power to devastate Los Angeles?”

“No.” Magnus responded, gritting his teeth as the dagger pressed more firmly to his spine.

“Whose power did he use?”

“Mine.”

“How did he have access to this power?”

“We had an active Connection rune.”

“Not an Alliance rune?”

“Our binding rune and our Wedded Union rune already provide us with the Alliance rune. To share power, we merely need to activate it with a Connection rune.”

“Is this different from other Alliance rune bindings?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“Alliance runes are, by their nature, temporary. They allow Shadowhunters and Downworlders to share their powers, and most of the time after the effects fade, you can use the rune again with someone else. Since our wedding, Alexander and I can only ally with each other, since we already have the components of the Alliance rune in our other bindings.”

“So you were aware that if you shared power, he had access to _all_ of your power?”

“Theoretically, yes. But it had never come to that before.”

“What changed?”

“When the boy Kit threw the Book of Raziel at me - it knocked me unconscious into a nightmare realm while the Alliance rune was still active. Which meant that my usual safeguards for overuse of my power were also knocked out.”

“And thus Lightwood was able to do what he did.”

“Yes.”

Bian Minh pressed the point of the dagger even harder, breaking the skin, and Magnus couldn’t help but let out a whimper as the angel blood burned into his own. “Why hadn’t you taught him magical safeguards?”

“He’d been pulled back from overuse of power before, by the natural restrictions his mixed blood provides. His angel blood physically prevents him from overexerting his own power.”

“But you didn’t consider that it wouldn’t restrict him from accessing your power?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Magnus was silent, trying to come up with an answer that would be satisfactory. Something, _anything_ , but he was coming up blank. As Bian Minh sensed his apprehension, she pulled the dagger down ever so slightly, widening the wound, ripping a scream from Magnus’ throat as more angel blood flowed into the wound. “Answer the question, warlock.”

“I was naïve.”

“Continue.”

“I met him when he was a Shadowhunter. I loved him when he was a Shadowhunter. He leads an organization of Shadowhunters, uses angelic runes and runed weapons as his main tools against the Void. We married in gold, and bound ourselves with runes. It is easy to forget that he is more than just a Shadowhunter.”

“You bear runes on your body. Are you a Shadowhunter?”

“No.”

“So it would be foolish to assume that just because one bears runes, that one is a Shadowhunter, particularly if one also has demon blood.”

“Yes.” Magnus whispered.

“You’ve instructed Lightwood in the finer details of the warlock arts - creating Portals, wards, even potions. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“And somehow learning _control_ slipped your mind.”

“I didn’t think he needed it.”

“You didn’t think that your angel boy could be capable of such acts, you mean?”

Magnus’ blood froze as he recalled the words his father Asmodeus had spoken to him when he and Jace had been deep in Alec’s unconscious mind. _You will see only death and ruin, and it is your angel boy who will wield it,_ Asmodeus had said. He summoned up all of his strength to twist around, to face his confessor, to make sure that it was still Bian Minh, and not some darker entity taking up residence in her body.

He succeeded in his turn, Bian Minh’s _aegis_ now resting against his sternum, where Magnus could see his skin burning from the contact, as well as the handle wrapped to prevent damage to Bian Minh’s hands. She looked startled for a moment, but schooled her features to neutral, narrowing her eyes at him. “Why does that statement unnerve you, warlock?”

“Are you really Ngoi Bian Minh?”

“I’m the one asking the questions here.”

“You’ll answer me if you want any more answers.” He dropped his voice as low as it would go, releasing the glamour from his eyes. “ _Answer me._ Or I summon up my father, there’s enough of my blood dripping here that I could do it, even without my hands.”

Bian Minh’s eyes flashed in anger, but she shook her head, glamour dropping from her face, revealing a small bat’s nose and ears almost as large as her head. She shook her head again and her glamour reappeared. “We all know who your father is, warlock. Do not invoke his name in anger, lest we all suffer. Now I ask again - what unnerved you about my statement?”

“It was a phrase that my father used when referring to Alexander. He called him my angel boy.”

“And?” Bian Minh pressed, slicing into Magnus’ skin again with the _aegis_.

“He warned me that one day Alexander would be responsible for great destruction.”

“You think he was referring to what transpired in Los Angeles?”

“No.” Magnus whispered, looking away.

“Why not?”

“Nobody died. My father said I would see death and ruin and that Alexander would be the cause of it.”

“A demonic prophecy is no laughing matter, warlock. Did you report this to the High Council?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“It was within Alexander’s unconscious mind. I couldn’t be certain if it was really Asmodeus, or just a figment of Alexander’s imagination. The angelic prophecies we’ve been privy to directly contradict any such behaviour on Alexander’s part.”

“Oh yes, angelic prophecies, of course. They call you the angel-touched warlock, after all.” Bian Minh’s voice turned sarcastic. “We all saw it, that day with the global Downworlder meeting. How Lightwood’s touch and love for you have somehow transformed your magic too. Raziel favours Lightwood, and, if rumours are to be believed, Raziel even granted your wish at Lake Lyn that night. Is that true?”

“Yes.”

“Imagine that, an agent of Heaven granting the wish of the son of a Prince of Hell. It’s almost too absurd.”

“It’s the truth.”

“Raziel’s favour or not, this still burns you, doesn’t it?” She dug the tip of the blade into the growing wound on Magnus’ sternum.

“Yes.” Magnus groaned.

“So you’re still just as damned as the rest of us.” Bian Minh sniffed. “Your Shadowhunter cannot protect you from that. You burn as we do, from contact with the angels’ weapons. But the real question is - does he?”

“Who?”

“Lightwood.”

“Why don’t you ask him?”

“I’m asking you.”

“Not as much as we do, but yes, he does.”

“So again we confirm that Lightwood is of warlock blood, and needed to be taught control, which you were negligent in?”

“Yes.”

“Do you remember who _you_ are?”

“Excuse me?”

“Do you remember who you are? You spend so much time with them, the Shadowhunters, do you still remember who you are?”

“Of course I do. I know I’m not one of them.” Magnus forced his chin up, so that he could look her squarely in the eye. “This all happened because I was on assignment for _us_. Investigating the circumstances in Los Angeles to confirm that the Shadowhunters hadn’t accused one of _our own_ of the worst treason imaginable. To make sure that _our_ people were being treated fairly, because we know Shadowhunters can shoot first and ask questions later, even the ones who call themselves our allies.”

“You were supposed to investigate alone. But you brought Shadowhunters with you.”

“Not at first. It was a decision the three of us made together, because of the strong taint of malevolent necromantic magic. We decided that angelic magic was our best protection against it. Adalina, tell her.”

Magnus could hear Adalina speaking outside the ritual circle, but her words did not carry to his ears. Bian Minh heard her, however, stepping back from Magnus for a moment. He breathed a short sigh of relief, enjoying this moment of respite from the touch of the angel-blood dagger as much as he could. But soon enough, Bian Minh nodded sharply, turning back to him, pressing the tip of the _aegis_ back to his sternum.

“She’ll back you on that one. Fine. But we’re not done here yet. We’re nowhere _near_ done.”

“What do you want from me?”

“Say it.”

Magnus’ head was swimming, the pain of the angel blood burning through his veins starting to make him lose consciousness. Bian Minh’s questioning didn’t help either, as she seemed to jump from topic to topic without a clear connection between them. He tried to raise his head to look at her, but she just pressed the dagger more firmly to the cut on his sternum, eliciting a soft whimper from his throat, until he dropped his gaze again.

“Say what?” Magnus groaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *The _aegis_ is a weapon mentioned in the fifth _Mortal Instruments_ book, _City of Lost Souls_ , where the name seems to be used interchangeably with _pugio_. I'm not sure if this is a mistake in the book, or if one refers to its angel-blood state and one as just its physical form. But since a _pugio_ is also the latter (an ancient Roman weapon), I've decided to go with _aegis_ as the standard name for the angel-blooded dagger.


End file.
